Housing build situation is ‘horrendous’ says Causeway Coast & Glens councillor
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council is to contact Executive ministers about the “horrendous” lack of planned housing builds in the council area.
It follows a recent letter from NI Water’s Engineering and Sustainability Director, Gary Curran, which set out the company’s budget allocation for 2024/2025 and noted that there was “limited ability to increase capacity to accommodate new connections in areas that are currently constrained by a lack of wastewater capacity”.
“NI Water are aware of approximately 37,000 units across Northern Ireland that may want to connect to the wastewater system over the next number of years,” the letter stated.
“We have completed an assessment of the 37,000 units and estimate that approaching 18,000 units may still be able to connect to the wastewater system, but the remaining 19,000 units are constrained by existing NI Water assets that are currently high polluting.
“These units are also currently outside the scope of developer-funded solutions and would require a full capital upgrade before further new connections can be made to the wastewater system.
“The current budget allocation means that at present, NI Water will not be able to make the necessary investments to enable connections for these units”.
At a full council meeting on Tuesday, August 6, DUP councillor Mervyn Storey proposed writing to both the Minister for Infrastructure, John O’Dowd, and the Minister for Communities, Gordon Lyons, to enquire what steps were being taken to meet constituents’ housing needs.
“When you read that letter there are no houses being built,” Cllr Storey said. “What that letter says is horrendous.”
“NI Water has basically told us ‘Sorry, no money. We can’t do anything’, so there is a crisis in how NI Water operates.
“This is not about making a political point, it’s about saying to the Executive ‘get your priorities right’ because it is an absolute scandal.”
Sinn Féin councillor Cara McShane suggested bringing the item to the council’s Partnership Panel in September, as it was “something that’s going to impact on all local government authorities”.
“We can already see the impact in our area,” Cllr McShane added. “It’s slowing down the movement of development of houses.
“It was good Cllr Storey has flagged this one up, but it’s very important to raise at every level of possible and, if appropriate, through the Partnership Panel also.”